Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Purchases 43,850 Shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its position in shares of Murphy Oil Co. (NYSE:MUR - Free Report) by 193.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 66,542 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock after purchasing an additional 43,850 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board's holdings in Murphy Oil were worth $2,014,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MUR. Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 342.8% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 828 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 641 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 60.5% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,441 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Murphy Oil by 32.9% during the fourth quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,903 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 471 shares during the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of Murphy Oil by 32.9% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,284 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares during the period. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its stake in Murphy Oil by 353.2% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 3,358 shares of the oil and gas producer's stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 2,617 shares in the last quarter. 78.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Murphy Oil Stock Up 3.6 %

Shares of MUR stock traded up $0.73 on Friday, hitting $21.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,245,142 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,053,917. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.93 and a beta of 1.68. Murphy Oil Co. has a fifty-two week low of $18.95 and a fifty-two week high of $46.91. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $25.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.33.

Murphy Oil (NYSE:MUR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 30th. The oil and gas producer reported $0.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.62 by ($0.27). Murphy Oil had a return on equity of 7.66% and a net margin of 13.44%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.90 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Murphy Oil Co. will post 2.94 EPS for the current year.

Murphy Oil Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $0.325 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $1.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.10%. Murphy Oil's payout ratio is presently 48.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $27.00 price target on shares of Murphy Oil and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Tuesday. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Murphy Oil from $50.00 to $37.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Truist Financial cut Murphy Oil from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $31.00 in a research report on Friday, January 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Murphy Oil from $33.00 to $28.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on Murphy Oil from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Murphy Oil currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $32.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Claiborne P. Deming purchased 50,000 shares of Murphy Oil stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $26.47 per share, with a total value of $1,323,500.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 931,651 shares in the company, valued at approximately $24,660,801.97. This trade represents a 5.67 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Meenambigai Palanivelu purchased 1,573 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $26.70 per share, for a total transaction of $41,999.10. Following the completion of the purchase, the vice president now directly owns 37,065 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $989,635.50. This trade represents a 4.43 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 6.52% of the company's stock.

About Murphy Oil

Murphy Oil Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an oil and gas exploration and production company in the United States, Canada, and internationally. It explores for and produces crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. The company was formerly known as Murphy Corporation and changed its name to Murphy Oil Corporation in 1964.